Our first ACTUAL day in Disney parks has finally arrived. We decided to save Magic Kingdom for last since we only had one day in each park and we wanted to end on the one that would be best for her. Tip for people traveling with toddlers- start AND end with Magic Kingdom if possible. We didn't skip any parks on this trip, though in hind sight, should have skipped Epcot (for what it's worth she LOVED Epcot on her 2nd trip- if I ever get to that point in blogging).

We drove down to Disney so we COULD have driven to the parks as well and had free parking since we stayed on site (we ALWAYS stay on site- so many perks). But we took the buses. We didn't want to have to deal with directions and possible traffic when we weren't sure where we were going. And honestly, we enjoy the buses. It is a pain to get on and off with the stroller and all our bags, but it is nice to know we don't have to worry about parking, finding the car, traffic, etc. So of course we took a picture of her first time ON the Disney bus!

And then because we are these kind of people, we had to take a picture of her going through the turnstiles for the first time... even though she didn't have a ticket or anything. This pic is her attempt at a thumbs up. She has since gotten MUCH better at it.

And I swear, it doesn't matter what the weather and temperature are like anywhere else in Orlando, it is ALWAYS a sweat box in Animal Kingdom. We took the family picture in front of the tree..

And started for the safari. It is best to do the safari early or late in the day to see the animals most active. This was not too too early but it was a decent safari ride anyways. And since Payton is obsessed with animals, it was a great experience for her.

We had to stop to take pictures first...

And took a few pictures in the line...

And then we finally made it on the ride. Here are just some of the pictures... (we took a TON of pictures, but since I am so far behind here, we are trying to limit it).

We have only once ever seen the lions awake and Tim got an AMAZING picture of the male. This was NOT that time. But you can see both the male and female in the picture.

And then we went on the walking trails to see more animals.

Afterwards we had our first disaster of the trip....

Yes friends, the dreaded boo boo! But see, Payton is a little weird with her boo boos. She doesn't want people to look at them. If you ask her if she got a boo boo she freaks out and hides it. BUT also doesn't like you to put a band aid on it. BUT then once the band aid is on, she doesn't want it to fall off. Weird-o! (And... of course on her next Disney trip, she ends up skinning the same knee... girl is a hot mess!)

After the walking trails we decided to finally go meet some characters. And who better to start with than Mickey and Minnie. Especially at her age, we had to meet the characters she knew. So we got in line with her book and started talking to her about what we were going to do. She did NOT want Mickey to take her book and pen. So we told her that Mickey was going to "fix" her book by writing his name... she was obsessed with things being fixed at this time. So it worked. And for the remainder of the trip, characters were fixing her book, not signing it. It was finally our turn but she was NOT about to go by herself. She wasn't having it. So Tim went up with her to get the book signed. And then we all got in the picture...

Imagine- it's the first time your baby is going to meet Mickey and Minnie- this is a BIG moment for any Disney loving family. I mean HUGE. EPIC... and you ask the characters' assistant (ok I know they have a real name for their title but I can't think of it right now) to take a pic on your phone because the photopass guy is using his good camera but you still want a phone pic, because who doesn't!? And then THIS beauty is what you see when you walk out of the building...

Friends, I would have CRIED if we didn't have a picture on our good camera as well. Looking back at it now (and even minutes after it when we realized we had a good picture on the real camera) it is really funny. And we got a good laugh out of it. I mean, this guy had his head perfectly positioned and was just smiling away-- because Disney workers are happy folks- usually. Ok ok, here is the GOOD picture...

And a picture of the famous book. Payton LOVES her signature books and she looks at them all the time. I am so glad we got this style book. The page on the left has a slot to put pictures so it helps her to know what signature is there and helps her remember. Because contrary to what nay-sayers think, this child remembers this trip. She can tell us things from the trip that even we don't remember. It helps that we looked at the pictures a TON after we got back and talked about the trip.

Later on, we made our way to Dino Land so Payton could ride another ride. She loved it!

And we met more characters. Pluto (Pee-Pew) was here for this next one too but I guess I didn't get a "blog worthy" picture. Payton called him Pee Pew and continued to say it that way right up until we were in Disney for her 2nd trip. I was VERY sad when she learned the right way to say it... so much so that Tim even tried to convince her to just say it the wrong way to make me happy. It didn't work lol.

And just for kicks, one last fun picture of the cutest girl in the world... with all her frizzies from the... RAIN. Yep, rained that day too!

When we decided to take this spur of the moment trip to Disney I knew we HAD to go to Sea World. Payton loves animals and, well, I love dolphins and killer whales. See, my life's plan was to be a dolphin/killer whale trainer. However... when looking into programs, I found you had to do work with exotic birds. Well... that disqualified me because I am terrified of birds. But anyways... back to our trip...

We started out with the best navigator around. She loved that map and acted like she was reading it every time we got in the stroller to go somewhere new. Good thing she seems to know how to read a map, because her mommy is awful at it. (And for the record, she STILL "reads" maps like this and tells us which way to go to get to things.)

The first show we saw was the Shamu show. It is one of my all time favorite shows. And I think the whales are just so beautiful. Payton was a fan as well.

Shortly after those two beautifully posed pictures, it started to rain. As was typical for our trip. It was constant rain. However, that is not the point. See the point is, we went to the dolphin show... and my dad and Tim took Payton into the show while my mom and I parked/locked the stroller, gathered all our bags and cups and who knows what else that we didn't want getting soaked, and went in.

As we were walking in, my mom, well, found a puddle. And she went down. And we were hysterical laughing. Payton was in her seat with Tim waiting for us and happened to be looking around for us. She saw the whole thing, and shouted (and I mean LOUD) "NONNY DOWN!!!" Well if that didn't make the whole thing funnier than it already was! My dad had been getting cotton candy (as you can see on Payton's face below) and came back just as my mom was picking up the mug that originally HAD pop in it. He realized she spilled the pop but not that she had fallen... needless to say, his first concern was the lack of drink he now had. (Note- once he found out the pop was gone was because my mom fell, he checked to make sure she was ok and was no longer too concerned about the pop. And yes, she was fine.)

We saw all the other shows that Sea World has to offer but I am trying to get to the rest of the trip soon since I am now 19 months behind and we have already been on ANOTHER Disney trip. So up next, Vacation day 3- Animal Kingdom!